The year’s first post from this series is obviously another rushed one, which by now should go without saying, but it does at least include one actual new find and all of the bands are once again from the same country… Which is yet again Greece, same as in post number 69, and it does include the band I skipped from that post. On the other hand, the third band split up a long time ago, but I decided to include them because the similar name made me check and I keep thinking that someday I should go through the list and decide which bands that are clearly no longer active I want to include in such posts, in which case I should actually get around to doing so, and remove the rest, and I didn’t want to remove this one. But there is one band that I did remove from the list now, and not because it split up, but because it actually has new material but it just didn’t seem good enough.
To start with the actual new find, that’s Narkissus Fall and they only have three songs released, so it was easy to pick, especially when only King of Ashes is actually recent, so I only had to select one of the other two as the second pick and I decided to go with Orchid’s Tale. Either way, while there are a few slips and I wasn’t keen on that brief spoken part and the instrumental bridge from King of Ashes, their overalll sound is surprisingly confident and polished and it’ll be interesting to see what they’ll release next.
The second band, Hand of Fate, is the one I skipped from that previous post, and my first pick, from their recent album, is My Illusion’s Manifest. Admittedly, I actually listened to that album and that’s one of the two songs that stand out, but they do show what they can do if they stick to a smoother sound, for lack of a better term, and do without the male vocals. As for the second pick, that’s No Plaything, and while the description seems to list that version as being a 2022 remix of the actual song from their first album, that better production value does show and I couldn’t dismiss it in favor of another, and otherwise my earlier comments stand.
As for the band that split up long ago, that’s Hand of God and it seems that their only album was released back in 2013, though Start Again was initially released a few years earlier and also has an actual video, so I’ll go with that as my first pick, while No Regrets will be the second. The sound is somewhat harder than what I’d prefer, the fact that it’s basically the guitarist‘s project showing in that way, but the vocalist definitely fits that style as well, and the whole package goes together quite nicely, which was why I decided that I couldn’t just dismiss them now that I felt that I had to make a choice.
This is probably the year’s last post in this series, and it’s obviously once again rushed, but it actually includes what for me are two new finds, since I stumbled into the first one just this week and into the second probably in early November, and definitely after writing the previous post from the series. On the other hand, the band that I mentioned skipping over in that post remains skipped over, because I happened to stumble into some new material from one that I’ve been meaning to include in such a post for many years, so that’s the third one, I just don’t want to put four in a post, and looking for a fifth is definitely out of the question just now.
That first band is Dirkschneider & the Old Gang, and back in 2020, when they released an EP, it was apparently just meant to be a one-off charity side project of veteran Udo Dirkschneider, yet it has developed into a full-fledged project and recently released a full album. So I’ll go with the song that I stumbled into, Blindfold, as my first pick, while the second, from that older EP, will be Where the Angels Fly. Of course, the level of polish and confidence goes without saying when such veterans are involved, but I wouldn’t have paid attention without a female vocalist, so the fact that the much younger and less experienced Manuela Bibert keeps up is what interested me the most.
The second new find is Remina, and if Heike‘s haunting vocals and that overall sound seem familiar, it shouldn’t come as a surprise, and the other band members have been working together in other projects as well. So, if you know what to expect, rest assured that they deliver. And if you don’t, or if you just want my usual two picks anyway, I made it easy for myself and went with the only one that has an actual video, Silence and the Silver Sea, from their recent album, and The Endless City, which is the only one from their first album that at least has a lyric video.
As for the band that I’ve been meaning to mention for years, that’s SEVI and their recent release, from their upcoming album, is Vampire Love, so that’s my first pick. And I’ll go with Broken Wings as the second one, in part because I have this feeling that it’s the song that made me add them on the list way back then, though I’m obviously not in the least certain of it. Either way, they’ve been around since 2010 and I wonder why don’t they have a page on Metal Archives, since I don’t see why they’d be rejected. But that’s not my problem, so I’ll just say that confidence should once again go without saying after all this time, and while they may not be that memorable in terms of the overall sound, the powerful vocals may actually stand out.
Yes, this is another rushed post in this series, but at least it includes one actual new find and all three bands are once again from the same country, which in this case is Greece. And I also had a quick look for some other Greek bands, but rushing meant that I only added one more on the list… Which, if I was to stick to the idea of only including bands with new songs released within the past year, I should have probably included here instead of the third one that I did include, since their recently uploaded video is actually for an old song, but I remember wanting to include them in such a post quite a number of times, so I decided to make it easy for myself and go with it this time around. And I guess that can even be said to be a decent balance, one actual new find, one band that was already on the list that has new material and one that doesn’t.
To start with the actual new find, that’s Empty Mirror and, since they only have two lyric videos uploaded separately, Of Man and Elf and Luminous Child, one from each album, the latter being the recent one, those will be my two picks… And they’re the only ones that I listened to right now, so I don’t know anything else, the obvious reason for concern being the growls… But on Luminous Child they’re tolerable and on Of Man and Elf they actually don’t bother me at all, and may even fit. And the overall sound is pretty nice, as are the clean vocals, both female and male. So, while I obviously think that they’d have been much better without those growls, they may be worth listening to even so.
The second band is Fortis Ventus, and my first pick is Chaos, which is their most recent release and apparently also their only actual video. The beginning definitely sounds familiar and I think I should know what it’s probably “inspired” by, but I can’t quite remember at this point. Either way, it’s a good song. And I actually like Shadows and the Soul, which is the one old song that’s officially uploaded and therefore my second pick, somewhat more, mainly thanks to that part with a faster pace, even if the vocals seem a little less secure if you pay attention.
As for the band that doesn’t actually have new material, that’s Elysion, and my first pick obviously has to be that recently uploaded video, for The Promise, even if the song is actually from their second album, released back in 2014. And their most recent album was released in 2023, so the second pick will be from it and I’ll go with Crossing Over. I’d call them a much more mature band than the other two, with a noticeably more polished sound and confident vocals that leave me little to complain about. And, like I said, I’ve been meaning to include them in such a post for some time and now I finally got around to it, even if I didn’t “catch” the moment when they actually had recently released material. But I do wonder why aren’t they listed on Metal Archives…
Seeing as I generally add another post in this series when I really need to post something non-personal on a certain day, it should go without saying that this one is also rushed, but at least it really deserves the title, because the included bands are actual new finds, and I actively looked for two new bands after happening to stumble upon the first one and deciding to try to stick to the same country, which in this case is Brazil, for the other two as well. Not that I didn’t check the list first, and I even found a Brazilian band with new material released within the past year and not already included in such a post, but I left it for another time… While on the other hand I removed one which had split up several years ago.
The band that I just happened to stumble upon is Enorion, but the recent release that made me click when I noticed it among the suggestions is a cover, so I won’t link to that one, going with the self-titled song and Time to Understand, which is their first one. Then again, there’s only one other original song in between, and that features Fabio Lione as vocalist, just like that recent cover, plus a lengthy instrumental bridge that sounds pretty much like what you’d expect in one of that guy’s songs and therefore not something I’m fond of. Of course, they sing power metal and seem to aim for that sort of sound, but those two songs seem to sound a fair bit better to me, even those instrumental bridges being much more appealing, especially in case of Time to Understand, so I hope they won’t focus too much on their collaboration with Fabio and lose their own direction in the process.
The second band is BrightStorm and it’s just their recent release, The Awakening, that makes them the most interesting among the three from my point of view. Admittedly, their other songs are rather different, and I’d say that even the second pick, Vampire, isn’t exactly representative, but it’s not like I usually care for such things, the picks just being songs that I prefer. Either way, while not extraordinary, the vocals are good enough and that goes for pretty much the entire package. They do seem far less confident and polished than a bad that’s apparently been around for well over a decade probably should be, and that may also mean that this is pretty much all they can do, but it is also possible that there’s still room for improvement, and their newer songs do sound better than the older ones.
As for the third band, that’s Inside Shadows, they just have three songs and the first one has some growls, so I’ll obviously go with the other two, Torn Apart and Against the Time. There are moments when the vocals do sound somewhat “broken”, but the overall sound and the instrumental parts are good enough and, even though they seem to have been around since 2019, at least in some form, they’re clearly just starting out in practical terms, so there should be plenty of room for improvement.
After checking dozens of bands from the list for new material, I decided to actually try to look for some new ones, and then wondered whether I could add another post to this series dedicated to Ukrainian bands, the first one that I listened to, Lunarway, being a very good sign. They claim to have been around since 2016 but seem to have only actually released their first material in December and, in order to make the usual two picks, I’ll just link to Lost in Memories and Streams of Time, which should prove that they’re right up my alley and surprisingly solid.
On the other hand, Gasoline Guns are not what I’d normally go for, but I found myself liking Legends, which is the song that they released some months ago. The vocals are quite harsh, but they’re not growls, the overall sound is enjoyable, and I’d say that they’re also improving. Admittedly, I made it easy for myself and only listened to a few older songs, from which I’ll select Blaze Up to link to, but I’m thinking that I’d have probably tried to look for something else if I’d have listened to that first. But that’s probably a matter of personal preference and those who actually enjoy the genre will likely have a different opinion.
As for the last band, that’s Majesty of Revival and I’d say that their sound has gotten worse, Infinity, which is the “proper” song in English from the EP they released last year, not leaving much of an impression and having a few brief growls as well, while I found somewhat more to like on a few of their older songs, Wolfheart probably being the best example. So it’s not that they’d have caught my attention otherwise, but it’s enough to allow me to complete this rushed post, which is actually the shortest one from the series, and stick to the theme.
